Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,191
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$15,629
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,431
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$72,820
Kept after tax
$57,191
Worth in national money
$61,431
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $72,820, ranking 38 of 51 states — about 11.43% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 164 among 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $72,820 you keep $57,191 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,431 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $77,840, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin ranks 38 of 51 for environmental scientists and specialists, including health, with a median of $72,820 — about 11.43% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 164 of 491 in Wisconsin places environmental scientists and specialists, including health in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $57,191 after the full tax stack, from $72,820. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,431 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $77,840 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,360 |
| This salary | $72,820 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Wisconsin | $57,191 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,059 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$374 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $68,743 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$516 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $72,820 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,580 and the ninetieth is $104,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $57,191 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $72,820. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 164 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $61,431, the adjusted value of that $72,820 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 164 of 491 in the state.
- The Wisconsin median of $72,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,580 to $104,360. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $57,191, from $72,820, assumes a single Wisconsin filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 164 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $61,431 — the adjusted value of that $72,820 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 164 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $77,840, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,580 and the top tenth $104,360 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $61,431 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $57,191.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Wisconsin is $77,840. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,580) and the ninetieth ($104,360) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $61,431 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $57,191 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.